


Bonus round 2 - fill 3

by oyogihodai (alder_knight)



Series: SASO 2016 fills [7]
Category: Free!, High☆Speed!
Genre: (to be clear the crush is not between the siblings), First Crush, Gen, Not Beta Read, Shippy Gen, Siblings, To Be Edited
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-22
Updated: 2016-06-22
Packaged: 2018-07-16 13:43:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 951
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7270627
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/alder_knight/pseuds/oyogihodai
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Prompt: <a href="http://sportsanime.dreamwidth.org/13854.html?thread=5276190#cmt5276190">translated page from the High Speed! manga of Gou showing up at the swim club to drop off a package for her brother</a>.</p><p>Gou POV.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Bonus round 2 - fill 3

**Author's Note:**

> based on this image:

“I’m home!” Gou trundled through the front door, wriggling out of her shoes and hanging up her coat. Her eyes lit up when she rounded the corner from the entryway and saw the tin on the kitchen table. “Oooh, Mama, did you get cookies?”

Hatsu, sorting through a pile of mail, replied without looking up. “No, it’s an empty tin. Your brother said he needed it for something.”

“Onii-chan?” Gou picked up the tin and shook it experimentally. Yes, it was empty. “Why would he need an empty cookie tin?”

Hatsu laughed shortly. “Gou-chan, love, I haven’t the faintest idea and I’ve decided not to ask. Your brother has been more and more secretive lately, and I’m picking my battles. How was school, honey?”

Gou dutifully chatted about her class project and about calligraphy club, but her attention was divided. She missed her older brother terribly, and had since he moved out. At length she asked, “Is Onii-chan coming to get that cookie tin, Mama?”

“I don’t think so,” her mother replied. “He asked if I could bring it over to Grandma’s house. I think he’s embarrassed. Boys….” she signed.

“Embarrassed?” Gou asked indignantly. She crossed her arms. “Why should he be embarrassed of his family?”

“I think he’s made some new friends he’s trying to impress by showing them how grown up he is. It happens a lot at that age, love. It doesn’t mean he thinks anything bad about you. I wouldn’t worry about it.”

Gou did worry. _Friends to impress?_ What did that mean? “Mama, can I bring Onii-chan the tin?” she blurted out. Her mother looked surprised.

“Well, I suppose so,” Hatsu replied cautiously. “Right now?”

Gou nodded.

“Have you finished your homework?”

Gou nodded again.

Hatsu sighed and stood, pushing her chair back from the table. “Go on, then, go ahead. He’s going to use it at the swim club anyway, so you might as well bring it to him there. Maybe you can get some sense out of that boy.” She kissed the top of Gou’s head. “Do you want me to call Grandma and see if you can stay there for the weekend, too? Spend some time with Rin-chan before he leaves, maybe?”

“Yes, please!”

Smiling, Hatsu picked up the phone and dialed. After a brief conversation she hung up and nodded at her daughter.

“Alright, Grandma says you can stay. Go pack your overnight bag while I wrap up that tin for you.”

Gou raced to do as she was told, kissed her mother goodbye, and headed out towards her grandmother’s house, a knapsack on her back and a paper bag in her hands.

***

 _Nanase-san_ , Gou thought to herself. Who _was_ Nanase-san?

For weeks, all her brother could talk about was this Nanase-san, Nanase Haruka, and how fast and amazing he was. She intended to find out for herself if he was actually as great as her brother made him out to be. Privately, she had her doubts.

She shifted her weight slightly and the evergreen branches around her rustled. _Stay still_ , she scolded herself. The cookie tin in its paper bag was cached safely behind her in the bushes; her backpack was already dropped off at their grandmother’s house. She looked around again, wishing she had a watch, and then she froze. As she had hoped and expected, swim club was getting out now, and its members were spilling out onto the sidewalk. Would her brother and Nanase-san be among them? She stayed hidden, more out of determination than patience.

Among the last to trickle out, she spotted a flash of red hair in a cluster of seven or eight children. Her brother was talking animatedly with some other boys, including one who looked like he wished he were anywhere else but there. Her ears perked up when she heard her brother call that boy “Haru.” Could this surly Haru be the Nanase-san she’d heard him talk so much about? Surely not. She kept her distance, kept hiding and watching.

They were talking about a swimming relay; Gou could work out that much from the snippets of conversation that reached her leafy hiding place. So he really had done it - her brother had moved houses, transferred school districts, changed swim clubs, all just so he could try and form a relay team with this one dour, dark-haired boy, and he had somehow actually managed to do it. Privately, Gou was impressed. Nanase-san gave no impression of being the sort of person who was easy to convince of anything.

She peered closer then, and watched her brother’s face as he spoke to Nanase-san. He was animated, laughing, but something about him stood out. He spoke to Nanase-san differently than he spoke to the other boys. When her big brother looked at Nanase-san, it was as if no one else mattered. She considered this. The other boys didn’t seem to notice what she did. It felt like she had accidentally been privy to something private, some secret of her brother’s that he was working hard to conceal.

Gou scooted back out of the bushes, careful to avoid causing a racket, and retrieved the paper bag containing the cookie tin. Hiding behind a tree, she brushed off her knees and picked the stray pine needles from her hair. Then she set her face in a cheerful expression and bounded towards the swim club, calling for her brother.

Her innocent demeanor in the face of his surprise belied the satisfaction she actually felt. Gou had dirt on her brother, and she was prepared to tease him relentlessly about it. 

It was all in fun, and besides, she reasoned, he owed her for ditching her for Australia.

**Author's Note:**

> this is supposed to come off as cute and a little sibling-bratty but not mean-spirited. I'm not sure how well that got conveyed. it needs work. hhhghhghhh.
> 
> ETA: now that it's no longer four hours til wakeup time and I'm slightly more coherent - Mamatsuoka is not named in canon. I followed @ellerean's lead in calling Rin and Gou's mom Hatsu when I write about her, which I've done a few times. there are reasons. it's a fine name and it suits her. anyway you didn't miss anything if you were puzzled by that name.
> 
> did I get all the HS! continuity correct in this? probably not. let me know if I've hecked up some detail in a noticeable way and I'll see about changing it if/when I revise this short thing for future edited posting.


End file.
